Join our Waitlist for Expert Advice!

Is Your Car Sharing Your Driving Habits With Data Brokers? A new report found that some drivers face higher insurance rates because of in-depth reports on their driving habits.

By Sherin Shibu

Key Takeaways

  • Prominent automakers, including General Motors, Honda, Kia, and Hyundai, are reportedly collecting in-depth data about drivers' habits and sharing it with third parties.
  • The reports on individual drivers' trips are hundreds of pages long and detail the date of each drive, start and end times, distance driven, hard braking, sharp accelerations, and speeding.
  • Some drivers say that they faced higher insurance rates as a result of these reports.

Carmakers and data firms are monetizing driving data from millions of Americans, sometimes without them knowing it, according to a New York Times report.

It's a practice that many drivers might not be aware of: With the rise of Internet-connected cars, some prominent automakers, including General Motors (G.M.), Honda, Kia, and Hyundai, are collecting data from drivers, including when they drive and if they speed or brake sharply.

The automakers could then send the details they collect to global data brokers like LexisNexis, which create individual reports that car insurance companies could use to potentially justify higher rates.

"This is not happening to everyone," the journalist behind the Times report, Kashmir Hill, told CNBC. "There are some automakers who have created these features in their car apps and they're called driver score, or driver feedback."

Related: Data Privacy Matters to Your Customers — Show Them It's a Priority For You, Too. Here's How.

Hill discovered the story while reading posts from drivers in car forums who were surprised that their insurance rates were going up, and even more surprised to learn that such precise data was being collected about them.

The program with G.M. is called Smart Driver, and though it is pitched as an optional, free feature, customers who talked to The Times said they were unaware they had signed up for it.

"With General Motors specifically, some people said 'I never turned on Smart Driver'," Hill told CNBC. "It seems that they were enrolled unknowingly, maybe at the dealership. You know, the salesperson turned it on because they get bonuses for enrolling people… in Smart Driver."

A G.M. consultant program manual from 2023 confirms that Smart Driver enrollment is a qualifier for a bonus.

Related: How Is AI Going To Transform the Auto Industry?

In the report, a Cadillac driver from Florida, who remained unnamed because they are considering taking legal action against G.M., said they were denied car insurance in December by seven companies, with one pointing to his LexisNexis report, which recorded times of hard braking and hard accelerating.

"I'm not sure how the car defines that," they told The Times. "I don't feel I'm driving aggressively or dangerously."

The driver was finally able to secure car insurance through a private broker — at double the rate they had been previously paying.

When they looked at the paperwork from the purchase of his Cadillac, there was no mention of Smart Driver, and they weren't aware they had been enrolled in the program, they said.

Related: General Motors' surge in sales and strategic vision

G.M. has had a relationship with LexisNexis since 2019. The automaker confirmed to The Times that it shares details about drive time, speeding, hard braking, and hard accelerating with LexisNexis and another company called Verisk, which is an insurance rating bureau.

Sherin Shibu

Entrepreneur Staff

News Reporter

Sherin Shibu is a business news reporter at Entrepreneur.com. She previously worked for PCMag, Business Insider, The Messenger, and ZDNET as a reporter and copyeditor. Her areas of coverage encompass tech, business, strategy, finance, and even space. She is a Columbia University graduate.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

You Have One Month Left to Buy a House, According to Barbara Corcoran. Here's Why.

"If you are planning on waiting a year and seeing where interest rates go, you are out of your mind," Corcoran said.

Growing a Business

The Best Way to Run a Business Meeting

All too often, meetings run longer than they should and fail to keep attendees engaged. Here's how to run a meeting the right way.

Business News

This New Restaurant Is Banking on One Dish — Because It's the Only Entrée on the Menu

The new hotspot is gaining buzz on social media for its innovative yet super simple concept.

Leadership

4 Bold Leadership Moves Every Successful CEO Uses to Navigate Change

Ready to turn fear into fuel and lead with confidence? In this article, I share how leaving my corporate job without a plan led me to build a thriving business. Learn four bold strategies to embrace uncertainty and turn challenges into opportunities for growth today.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.